A federal judge rebuked Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence’s attempt to ban refugees from resettling in Indiana, which was based on the right-wing media lie that the U.S. lacks a vetting process for Syrian refugees and thus could allow terrorists into the country.The judge explained that all refugees undergo a rigorous and lengthy screening process that can take up to two years, and he called Pence’s evidence-free suggestion that terrorists would pose as refugees to try to sneak in “nightmare speculation.”

Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor previewed a major immigration speech by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump with anti-immigrant rhetoric, while displaying images of drug runners crossing into the U.S. During the segment Fox analyst Ralph Peters argued against so called "anchor babies," due process for immigrants, and argued against undocumented immigrants ever getting the right to vote.

From the August 31 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

ERIC BOLLING (GUEST HOST): Let's use Mexican and American laborers, we'll share the laborers and that's a way to help defray some of the cost to Mexico, use some of their labor.

RALPH PETERS: Well, it would probably wind up being built largely by illegal immigrants anyway. But Eric -- Eric, I strongly believe, strongly, that what we need to do is first, as Mr. Trump has said, "enforce the laws on the books." Get the felons out of here. We need to revamp other laws, pass new ones.

When you were apprehended at the border, it shouldn't be catch and release. You go back immediately. And what we have got to do is stop sympathizing with the criminals and penalizing the victims. So these ideas of endless appeals and anchor babies, sorry if that offends anybody, that stuff -- that nonsense has to stop.

We need legal immigration. But we -- not illegal, and here is my bottom line. No one who enters this country illegally ever, ever gets to vote for president, senator, representative, governor, judge, et cetera.

Right-wing media are distorting a new report in The Wall Street Journal detailing a payment of $400 million from the United States government to the Iranian government to resolve an arms sale dispute dating to 1981. Conservative outlets are suggesting the payment “was definitely ransom” paid for American prisoners held in Iran, claiming “the administration did not reveal this to the public,” suggesting that Hillary Clinton was wrong to say the report is “old news,” and that airlifting cash to make the payment was essentially “money laundering.” But past reporting and explanations from the administration reveal “no concrete evidence that the cash payment was, in fact, a ransom,” that many of the details of the payments were made public in January, Clinton correctly noted the payment has been public for “seven or eight months,” and making the payment in cash was the only way to legally do it due to economic sanctions against Iran.

Following comments Donald Trump made to The New York Times raising the possibility that as president he would not honor the United States’ NATO obligations, Fox News national security analyst Ralph Peters called Trump’s position “the most destructive and idiotic statement on foreign policy” by a presidential candidate in his lifetime.

In a July 20 interview with the Times, Trump “called into question whether, as president, he would automatically extend the security guarantees that give the 28 members of NATO the assurance that the full force of the United States military has their back.” Trump suggested that, as president, he would assist Baltic NATO member states “only after reviewing whether those nations ‘have fulfilled their obligations to us.’”

Peters blasted Trump’s comments during a July 21 interview on Fox Business, saying that “there’s no excuse for what Trump said, and what he did was invite Vladimir Putin to invade the Baltics,” adding that “Trump’s throwing [the Baltic NATO member states] to the wolves” and “knows nothing about” NATO:

Fox News devoted numerous segments to reports of mass sexual assaults committed in Cologne, Germany on New Year's Eve by men "having a 'North African or Arabic' appearance," using the story to fearmonger about the "direct threat" posed by "how fast you allow ... Syrian refugees into this country." This reporting stands in contrast to Fox's history of downplaying sexual assaults when it doesn't fit their anti-refugee agenda.

Fleeing from terror and indiscriminate violence in parts of the Middle East, millions of people have packed up and left their homes to start safer lives for themselves and their families elsewhere. But if you tuned into Fox News anytime in the last year, you'd think the refugees themselves -- many of them Muslim -- were responsible for the violence. In fact, painting Muslims as terrorists, radicals, and tacit supporters of ISIS, baseless demonization of Islam was the channel's modus operandi in 2015. And it wasn't just right-wing media. CNN also joined the smears, asking a Muslim human rights lawyer if he supports ISIS, questioning a Michigan mayor if she's afraid of her majority Muslim-American city council, and forcing responsibility for the recent attacks in Paris onto an innocent French Muslim.

From berating a teenager for his interest in technology to inventing so-called "no-go zones," watch how the media fearmongered about Muslims in 2015:

As Columbia Journalism Review explains in their annual list of the worst journalism in 2015, the media has a special responsibility to get these stories right and not perpetuate Islamophobia, as inaccurate and "reactionary coverage" can "influence policy makers to take drastic measures under the guise of popular fears."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump excused Vladimir Putin's extensive human rights violations by saying that "at least he's a leader, unlike what we have in this country." His praise for the Russian president echoes that of right-wing media, who have swooned over Putin for years as a way of attacking President Obama's supposed weakness.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump called for a moratorium on Muslims entering the United States on December 7. Trump's statement followed widespread calls from conservative media not to allow Muslim refugees from Syria to resettle in the United States.

Right-wing media outlets are parroting the attacks of an anti-LGBTQ hate group on Connecticut’s openly gay comptroller, Kevin Lembo. Lembo recently sent the American Family Association (AFA) a letter asking the group to submit written documentation certifying it complies with the nondiscrimination regulations governing the Connecticut State Employee Campaign for Charitable Giving (CSEC), which allows Connecticut State employees to contribute to qualifying non-profit charities through payroll deductions. Lembo’s office has since been “flooded” with emails and phone calls from AFA supporters.